Session Chair Prof. Julian Hiscox, Network Director (University of Liverpool)

Speaker 1. Prof. Alan Radford SAVSNET (University of Liverpool)

Talk Title  AI of health records and whole genome sequencing of samples to better understand coronavirus epidemiology in dogs

Biosketch  Alan graduated from Liverpool in 1993 with degrees in veterinary science and molecular biology. After a one year internship in Small Animal Medicine in Dublin, he returned to Liverpool to complete his PhD on the evolution of feline calicivirus. Since then he has continued using “next generation” sequence data to understand the biology of infectious diseases from viruses to antimicrobial resistance. In parallel, and with major support from BSAVA, BBSRC and DogsTrust, Alan helped establish the Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network (www.liverpool.ac.uk/savsnet).SAVSNET collects large volumes of companion animal electronic health data from veterinary practitioners and diagnostic laboratories across the UK. These are collated centrally, and used for a wide range of research and surveillance including antibacterial use and resistance. SAVSNET is generating real-time data on diseases (https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/savsnet.at.liverpool/). As well as research, anonymised data are fed back to participating practices in real-time providing a new population perspective to daily practice. We increasingly use a range of artificial intelligence applications to improve the extraction of useable data from over 10million health records. These studies using data are now complemented by the establishment with participating laboratories of a Virtual Biobank, in which leftover diagnostic samples are sent to Liverpool for typing to allow a better understanding of the evolution and transmission of infectious diseases in our UK pet population.

Speaker 2.   Prof. David Robertson  (University of Glasgow)

Talk Title TBC

Biosketch David earned a BSc from the University of Edinburgh in 1991 He completed a Ph.D. in genetics at the University of Nottingham (1993-1996) after moving with his supervisor’s research group from Trinity College Dublin (1992-1993). Subsequently, he was a research associate at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a research fellow at the CNRS, and a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. In 2002 he became a lecturer and principal investigator at the University of Manchester. In 2017, he moved to University of Glasgow and became head of the Centre for Virus Research’s bioinformatics research programme. His research focus has been on computational approaches to the study of viruses, molecular evolution, and the analysis of viral diseases such as HIV, COVID-19, and others